This article provides a chronological and critical review of the work of Beatriz González from the early 1960s through the end of the 1980s. In the introduction, Carolina Ponce de León discusses the artist’s personality and her origins in Santander, Colombia, and identifies the driving force behind González’s work in a thesis that is developed throughout the text: “The ethical dimension of the artist’s work.” The text refers to González’s training and artistic influences, and examines different stages of her career in terms of her artistic experimentation, including her objectives, sources, the Colombian political and cultural context, and international artistic movements. The article addresses the specificity of this artist’s work vis-à-vis Pop Art and Conceptual art, among other trends, and the artistic environment in Colombia at the time. Ponce de León mentions some of the major exhibitions in which González’s work has been shown and lists some of the prizes she has been awarded. In general terms, her work is divided into three main phases: her formative period, her development of her own language and the focus of her exploration, and her radical transition to a new approach to space and images.  

This article is taken from the first retrospective book on the work of Beatriz González (b. 1938) that was published in 1988. It provides rich and detailed insights into various stages of the artist’s career that include descriptions of several representative works from each period, and critical reviews of the artist’s goals, her vision of art, her interaction with her environment, and her sources. Carolina Ponce de León provides the reader with clues that help to interpret these works, as well as relevant clarifications that contrast what is happening in Colombian art in general with Beatriz González’s work in particular; especially in terms of the international movements with which her work is often associated (specifically, Pop Art.)

A later article by the same author (“La historia extensa de Colombia” [The Extensive History of Colombia], in Beatriz González, Qué honor estar con usted en este momento histórico. Obras 1965-1997 [Beatriz González: What an Honor To Be with You on this Historic Occasion, Works 1965–1997] (New York, NY: The Museo del Barrio, 1998), 13–65, [see doc. no. 1079435]), complements this review, as does the retrospective book (Beatriz González (Bogotá: Villegas Editores, 2005) and an article about one of her most recent exhibitions written by Carmen María Jaramillo, “La Verónica” (Bogotá: Galería Garcés, 2005).